Developer contributions

Most visits to the Solent Special Protection Areas (SPAs) are made by people living within 5.6 kilometres of them. New homes built within this zone are therefore likely to increase visitor numbers, which can lead to greater disturbance to the birds that depend on these protected areas. Legislation requires that any additional impact from new development must be fully mitigated.

Housebuilders can choose to provide this mitigation themselves. To do so, they must demonstrate to the local planning authority and Natural England that their proposed measures will completely offset the impact of their development.

For most developments, it is simpler and more efficient to make a developer contribution towards delivering the Bird Aware Solent Strategy. If you are planning a development and would like guidance on the contribution required, please contact your local planning authority as early as possible.

A developer contribution needs to be paid for every net additional dwelling. The Bird Aware Solent Strategy was endorsed in December 2017 and introduced a sliding scale of developer contributions based upon bedroom size. The contributions from 1 April 2026 are as follows:

* Homes within ‘winter only’ zone of SPA with winter only obligations – applies to less than 1% of all applications, and these will be based within Winchester, Fareham and Gosport only.
** Applies to the likes of camp sites which would only operate between 1st April and 30th September